Milestones: Elvis Costello is 56 today; watch BBC special about ‘Spike’ from 1989

That once-angry young man, Elvis Costello, turns 56 today, and to commemorate the occasion, we cast our spotlight not on the rocker’s brilliantly prolific early period, but, rather, his late-’80s, post-Attractions comeback following a nearly three-year break: the 1989 album Spike, a personal favorite.

Above you’ll find the hour-long “Everything You Need to Know About Spike” special broadcast on the BBC on Feb. 20, 1989. The program features interviews with Costello, plus solo-acoustic performances of “God’s Comic,” “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror,” “Let Him Dangle,” “Pads, Paws and Claws,” “Baby Plays Around,” “Any King’s Shilling” and “Tramp the Dirt Down,” all from Spike, plus “Having It All,” written for the film “Absolute Beginners,” but not used (and eventually included on the reissue of 1986’s King of America).